We are home from our mini vacation! You can see a few pic at www.posterous.com/punkrockmom

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Weekly Weiners

Here is the weekly winners, the car show edition. And very fitting today since we will be spending a lot of time in our car on our way to Laughlin! For more please visit Sarcastic Mom. 

Here is a giant monster school bus. This monstrosity combines 2 of The Phi's loves. monster trucks and school buses.

So she had to go for a spin. 

I make him take this picture every year. 

These are my peeps.

Remember Rat Fink? 

A bright yellow one.

Just for Uncle Sam and my Pops. Two Caprice lovers!

"Take a little trip. Take a little trip. Take a little trip with meeeee"

Just a cool strange shot in a shiny rim

And always the silliness.........

and the sheer joy after riding the Monster School Bus

Y is for......

stash, originally uploaded by Punk Rock Mom.

yarn. :sigh: I Love Yarn!

Its Like Blink-182 Said.....

Happy 23rd Birthday to the youngest of the clan, 

my youngest sister

3 of 3

Mercy Elaine!

Hope you enjoy your birthday weekend!

And remember what Blink-182 said

"Nobody likes you when your 23!" 

Haha

We Like you. Hell we love you! 

See you tonite

-The Punk Rock Family

Happy B-day Comadre!

 

Happy Birthday to the family Dr. and to her Dad. Yes just like The Phi, Nina Patty shares her birthday with her Dad. Happy Birthday Pat. We are soo looking forward to wine, snacks and fondue on Saturday! Hope the boys spoil you today!

On another note: Ugly Betty starts back up tonite and I am way excited. Just to get in the mood I watched the season finale again yesterday. You know to refresh my memory and I am really hoping that Betty chose to go to Rome with Gio. Any Ugly Betty fans out there? Where do you think she went , with Henry to Arizona or with Gio to Rome?

And what would be a nice treat to enjoy while watching Ugly Betty. How about some coldstone's ice cream? How about free coldstone's? Yea between 5 pm - 8pm you can choose from 2 different flavors for free! You're welcome!

Skateboards and Tutus

The Phi is kind of a tom boy. She also has her girlie girl side too.  She likes to wear dresses and loves her My Little Ponies and watching princess movies. The other night I was reading her a bed time story about a little girl who was going to her ballet class. I told The Phi how her "best friend"/ cousin  Angelica use to take ballet classes when she was about The Phi's age. After the story she declared that she too wanted to go to ballet class. So being the overzealous parent of an only child, I did some research and found a (kind of) local Pre-ballet class for 2.5-3.5 year olds.  Perfect! So after work yesterday we headed out and signed her up.  Four little  1/2 hour classes.  Since The Phi has been doing so well at school I figured she was ready for a dance class. While signing her up I asked the lady behind the desk if she needed to wear anything special and she told me that she sees all the little girls in leotards and tutu's. So off we went in search of ballerina attire for The Phi. The Phi picked these really cute pink tights with hot pink glitterly stars on them. While we were out and about The Phi had $6 she won from a school raffle, burning a hole in her pocket so we were going to let her pick something out. She originally picked up a new Yo Gabba Gabba doll. Then of course in the next aisle she saw something else she HAD TO have.  So we kept switching toys out until she laid her eyes on these little skateboards with little skateboard dudes.  It was like the holy grail. She loved this toy and carried the package around until we got home and she was finally able to open it. That's my Phi, the skateboarder, monster truck loving, glittery pink star ballerina.

 

Also one of my photo articles is up at Blissfully Domestic. So head over and read about why you should  back up your back up!

Crazy Loco Love

I don't have as much time as I would like to read, but once in awhile I will find a book that I just HAVE to read.  My most favorite book ever is "Rain of Gold" by Victor Villasenor. This is the first real meaty "Chicano" book that I read. I have read everything that Villasenor has written since. While in Palm Springs I found a new awesome book store and picked up a copy of Villasenor's latest book called "Crazy Loco Love" .

It took me longer than usual to read and I even read another book in the middle. Villasenor's book are biographical and center around his family. This new book centers around Victor himself and his late teen and early 20's. Searching for himself and trying desperately to become un hombre. This was not the best Villasenor book I have read, and there were parts that went a little too far over the edge and into the philosophical and religious realms. I think I was too into the superficial part of the characters lives and really wanted to see how things would end up. I think the second time I read this the deeper aspects will become more important to me.  I am way too invested in these "characters" and any book from Villasenor  I would love.

I am really excited because after all these years of reading his books over and over I am getting the chance to meet Victor Villasenor. He will be signing book and giving a lecture at a local book store next month. :)

Dreams Do Come True

See that giant Monster School Bus? Yea its awesome right.  The Phi is crazy about monster trucks. She loves to play with her little ones and watch the real ones on television. Well yesterday at the Route 66 car show she got to ride in one. Yep in the first row of seats in this picture is The Phi and PR Dad.  She had a blast screaming her little head off in excitement the whole time. 

Weekly Weiners

And the Weekly winners are back in full effect this week.

YES!

For more check out Sarcastic Mom.

A visit with the cousins. Hmmm think they may have a grandfather that was a musician. Yea its in their blood. Rock On Little People!

He kissed a girl and he liked it.

Phi Got Mail! She was very excited to get a Thank You card from Nana and Tata. Their signatures are so distinctive that I didn't even have to tell her who it was from. She knew.

I finished my Turkish Stitch Scarf (more info on it here ) It is really long and super soft and is on its way to a good home.The hotness that is PR Dad coming home.

She's even adorable when she's in time out.

Yea Roo, that sums it up nicely!

X is for.....

Xmas. Can you believe it's only 3 months away!

Funny Photo Friday #1

The Phi (a few years ago) as the human paper weight. Asleep on my desk at work. How did I ever get any work accomplished? 

Wnat more funny. Click Here for a whole list!

How did the world find out about my grey hair?

So the week The Phi started pre school I sprouted about 4 grey hairs. No lie. Well 4 that I can see. All in the front on the top. Of course those little beauties made me feel so freakin old. My birthday is right around the corner. Already! I swear I just turned 30 like last week. But no 31 is only a few weeks away. The grey hairs prove it and apparently the universe is well aware of my advance age. Yesterday I received a letter in the mail. I opened it up and in bold letter it said "PR MOM ARE YOU PREPARED?" Well I like to think I am prepared for most things. As I read on I realized that this flyer wanted to know if I was prepared for my death. Was my coffin picked out and my burial plot paid for.  If it wasn't then they had a deal for me! The letter was from a mortuary and wanted to know if my arrangements for my demise were in order. How did they know about my grey hair?  I hadn't even blogged about it yet! Well its out there, and now I must get a few more grey hairs trying to decide how to plan for the end. 

Boring

I have nothing to write about today. Work has been super busy and not much time to contemplate post topics. I have about half an hour left at the office, that is of course I can get my work done by then. Then off to town with my 2 favorite people. Wonder if I can sneak a trip to the Yarn Deli today. Maybe if I offer a sushi dinner I can get a trip to the yarn store. I love yarn stores. I wish I could knit faster so I have excuses to buy more yarn. A trip to the book store would be nice too. Oh man I just remembered its Wednesday and we have to go to the library. Damn them and their 1 week deadline. Then we can head out. We have to move faster than usual because our lives revolves around the 8 pm bedtime. Oh well, a small price to pay to have a happy kid every morning. I am still shocked at how much The Phi is loving school. Her teacher reports good days everyday and today they had their first show and tell. They had to bring in their favorite stuffed animal. Which worked out well because everyday The Phi takes her stuffed rabbit in the car to school. She always wants to take it to class, but I never let her. Today she could and she was way excited about it! No I am just worried about about tomorrow when she can't take it to school. 

Reason #548895532145 PR Dad Rocks

So I am sure that I do not mention it often enough (or maybe I do) but PR Dad is a kick ass Dad. With his always changing schedule there are days when he only gets to see The Phi during his lunch hour. Monday was one of those days. So even though he didnt have to be at work until noon, he got up at 6:45 am just to have a bowl of cereal with The Phi before she left for school. She talked about it all day!

So The Phi and I didn't do jack all weekend.  I knitted a scarf and finished a book. The Phi played ponies in her room and watched way too many episodes of Spongebob. We didn't have anything to do and PR Dad worked all weekend so we totally just vegged out. While we vegged I caught an episode of Bridezillas on WE. Holy crap, I could not believe these people. Seriously the episode I caught the bride was so freakin mean to the groom. Screaming at him, putting him down, and calling him names. In front of the whole bridal party at the rehearsal dinner. She made her matron of honor cry and everyone was pretty much scared of her. And the damn groom, just followed her around while she screamed at him. And instead of calling off the wedding and running as far away from that bitch as he could get, he cried, CRIED, when she walked down the aisle. I don't know how these women find these suckers to marry them. They should do a follow-up show of all the divorces that follow these weddings. But I must admit the show is pretty damn entertaining. 

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Blissfully Domestic

So has anyone noticed a new button over there on the left column of this here blog? The big pink one that say Blissfully Domestic. You have! And you have been wondering what it's all about? Well let me tell you. Blissfully Domestic is your one stop site for all things. Yes you will find the answer to all your questions including the meaning of life. Okay maybe not that but they have a ton of cool articles on cooking, health, family, finances and much much more. There is also a photography section and thats where I come in. See Sarcastic Mom was looking for some awesome photographers and I answered her call. She wined and dined me (okay maybe I just asked her really nice) and now I am a contributing writer for Photo Bliss on Blissfully Domestic. I know me and something domestic, its pretty funny and kind of ironic, but it is also very cool. You can check out one of my articles here. It is a bunch of talented ladies with some great articles on photography. So head over there and check it out. Read some great articles and leave some comments.

unorganized chaos

So we had our first ever "back-to-school" night last night. Since we are new to this whole, Send your kid to school thing" I was a bit nervous about back-to school night. Turns out I had no need to be nervous, because why would you be nervous about free hot dogs and cookies, a 20 minute meeting where the Principal spoke into a microphone but still was not heard because no one would stop freaking talking. And even that didn't matter because everything they discussed did not pertain to the pre-school. And its not nerve wracking to walk around your child's classroom waiting for some kind of presentation to start and then after 20 minutes realize that there is no presentation and you could leave. All in all back to school night was a big ol' waste of time. I actually left there more confused than before. Want my 2 cents on how it should have been run? Too bad, here it goes. They should have had a separate night for the pre-school so that us pre-school only parents didn't waste our time or become more confused in the meeting. The teachers should  have had a presentation ready for the parents. There should have been some kind of activity that allowed the parents to get to know each others names at least. I mean their kid is in class with my kid, shouldn't we at least know each others name? There should have been some talk about upcoming events, and daily activities. What kind of things is my kid going to be doing in your class. Maybe some info about volunteering in the classroom or any upcoming field trip. But that's just me. What are your "back-to-school" nights like?

The little things

Now that we have a set week schedule and bedtimes and early alarm clocks it seems like our time with The Phi during the day is so much shorter.  By the time we get home from work we have 2 hours to get chores done or errands ran  until I make dinner, eat dinner, clean up dinner. Next thing I know its time to shower and get The Phi in bed. There are times now when PR Dad will not see her at all during the day except his lunch hour. I am learning that those few free hours we have together are important and we need to make the most of them. Yesterday in between dinner and shower The Phi and I did a craft project together. We painted and decorated 2 toilet paper tubes. We let them dry while we got ready for bed. Then we taped them together and added a string and "Viola!" we had a set of binoculars. Then The Phi had a brilliant idea and wanted to go outside to look at the stars. So we did. We sat on the porch and she was so excited about her binoculars because as she brought them up to her eyes she exclaimed "Mom! They work!" The sky was just getting dark and as we sat side by side on our front porch we watched an owl fly from tree to tree. Then the stars started coming out one by one. Like glitter in the sky. PR Dad came out to join us and I was so thankful for that moment. And today as we remember what happened 7 years ago I am even more thankful for these amazing loving moments with my family. 

It's like a classy way to get drunk

So have you even been wine tasting? No? Oh man I highly recommend it. Even if you don't like wine, go anyways. You never know what you are going to like. I do find that the wine always tastes better at a winery. 

Maybe is the because you are with friends. Good and interesting people who make you laugh. (Yea we were a bunch of Chicanos out wine tasting. What of it?) Can you see where I am suppose to photoshop myself in?
Maybe its the pretty wine glasses that you can take home. (And if you're like Patty you will be ghetto and take the ones you're not suppose to take home)
Maybe its the cute buildings that the tasting rooms are in. Or the cool names of the wines, like "Black Jack" and "Girlfriends".
Maybe it is the gorgeous vineyards, or the really cool pourer's that work there and make up awesome concoctions. (Sipping on Jeanie's Juice!)

Seriously though, plan a day trip. Out in Temecula you can even take wine tasting tours on a segway! We are totally going segway next time. 

I don't want to be that parents, but.......

So The Phi has been in school for a week now. She is doing great. She loves it, has no problems getting ready or going to bed early, being dropped off or picked up. She looks forward to it everyday and is sad on the days she doesn't go. I on the other hand I am having some problems with the school and how they are running their pre-school program. I don't know if I am just being way too over the top, or if my concerns are valid. Some of the things that are bothering me are.......

The school has 2 pre-school classrooms with two different head teachers. When The Phi was first enrolled they had her in teacher A's class. Well from the first time we had went to tour the school teacher A did not sit well with us so we asked that she be switched to teacher B. The first week was spent with the classes combined and mostly teacher B with the kids. Fine I had no problem with that because I was assured that The Phi would end up in the other classroom with teacher B. When we went to school on Monday I was informed that she would be dropped off with teacher A and spend 1 hour there until teacher B came by to take her class to her classroom. Then at lunchtime the classes would be combined at an outside picnic area. After lunch all the kids are brought back to teacher A's classroom to watch a movie! This means that The Phi will only spend between 2 1/2 - 3 hours with teacher B. 

So whats the big deal? Well teacher A is mean. In the short time I have been at the school and in the classroom. And this is just a tour and dropping off and picking up The Phi I have heard her yell, yes raise her voice at the kids. Yesterday for example, when I picked up The Phi the kids were watching a movie (oh more on the whole movie thing later) and one little girl was not sitting with the group and instead was leaning against a near by table.  The teacher A yelled "you need to sit down".  A minute later she yelled "sit down!" and then a little later she yelled even louder "you are not listening to me! sit down!" I was stunned. I couldn't believe a school teacher would talk like that to a kid in front of a parent. Here is how I think the situation should have been handled. The teacher should have walked over to the student and asked her to sit back down. Not yell from across the room. Even take her hand and lead her back to the group and explain that she needed to stay seated. Am I wrong here? The thought of her yelling at The Phi like that makes me more angry that I can tell you. 

Teacher A is not only harsh with the children, she is also harsh with the parents. Last week when teacher B was with the students she would give a brief report of how The Phi did that day. She would tell me if she ate well and a little bit about what they did that day. When I picked up The Phi from teacher A I stood there waiting for the teacher to give me my report, instead she said, "Did you have a question or something?".  Well indeed I did have a question regarding Back to School night since the school has neglected to send me any kind of paper work regarding calendars and lunch menus! She answered my question and that was it. So I have no idea how The Phi did in school on Monday. I know they have a class full of kids, but really there is only about 10 kids in each class. Is it too much to ask for a very brief report on how my child did that day? Am I asking too much here? 

Another concern  I have with all this classroom switching is that The Phi only has at the most 3 hours of actual "school" time. The first hour is spent playing and waiting for her real teacher and the last hour is spent watching a movie. Now we are far from those kind of parents that don't allow their kids to watch TV. In fact I think one of The Phi's first words was "spongebob". While at the office with me she has watched the same movies over and over and over again. I was happy that school was starting and those days of sitting in front of a television were over. Apparently they are not and now I am paying someone else to put The Phi in front of a television. Is watching a movie daily standard pre-school practice?

These are my main concerns right now. I am not sure if these concerns are valid or if I am overreacting. PR Dad is on the same page as me. We feel that we are paying for this education, not day-care and we are not rich so sending The Phi to private school is a sacrifice for us. One of course we are willing to make to give our kid a good education. I feel that we are being ripped off right now. Please people I need to know how you would handle this? We have back to school night on Thursday and I am not sure if I should voice my concerns. I don't want to be that difficult parent who the teachers hate. I run the risk of making school hard for The Phi if she is the daughter of the parents who are always complaining. 

LA County Fair

It's that time of the year again. The end of summer means a trip to the LA County Fair. This is seriously the monster of all fairs. We can spend a good 13 hours there and still not see everything. This year we had a later start and only spent 9 hours there. For those of you interested in the expansion of the availability of deep fried foods at the fair this years menu included, deep fried pop tarts and deep fried white castle cheeseburgers. I had to pass on anything deep fried this year after last years bad experience with the deep friend avocado. 

This year The Phi really got to enjoy herself. She loved everything from the petting zoo, to meeting Smokey The Bear, to the mini monster truck races. But what she really enjoys it those cut out things where you can stick your face in. The kid LOVES these things and at the fair there were plenty. So instead of pictures of cows and goats I present you a series of pictures of The Phi's head in cutouts. Enjoy!

The Phi as a Hot Dog on a Stick Lemonade

The Phi as a very short fireman

Officer Phi. She liked this one because she was on a motorcycle like Daddy's

The Phi as a cow.

The Phi as an donkey. Really more like a smart ass.

Phi and Me as Corn Farmers.

You can see all the pictures from the fair here.  Where you can see the giant pink dolphin The Phi had to have. 

Weekly Weiners

With the first day of school for The Phi, a outing to the Riverside Art Walk, a trip to the fair, an afternoon of wine tasting, a visit from Tia Elaine AND Uncle Sam we had a very memorable and awesome week. To see more weekly winners visit Sarcastic Mom.

The Phi posing with her first project she brought home from school She was so excited about it and I was so proud of her!

A new art piece by Pearmama shown off by her husband! They are a super talented couple and it was really cool to see them again.

We went to opening day at the LA County fair. The Phi had a blast!

Saturday was spent out in Temecula, Ca with our compadres and friends tasting wine and having some laughs.

Pathway at South Coast Winery, Temecula, Ca